Clay Matthews thought he had the Carolina Panthers pegged after doing film study heading into Sunday's tilt in Charlotte. The studious linebacker, coupled with talkative quarterback Cam Newton provided a great on-field back-and-forth early in the game, which was caught by FOX mics.
On the opening drive, the Green Bay Packers linebacker identified a red-zone formation he recognized. Matthews yelled to his teammates to watch running back Christian McCaffrey on the wheel rout.
That's where our fun exchange between Matthews and Newton started:
For those who couldn't catch the on-field banter over Troy Aikman's conversation, below is the transcript:
Matthews: "It's that wheel route. It's that wheel route. I've studied too."
Newton: "You've been watching film, huh?"
Matthews: "Oh yeah."
Newton: "That's cool. Watch this..." (throws touchdown on fake wheel, slant to McCaffrey)
The exchange is fantastic. Matthews saw what he believed was a Panthers' formation tendency, which Newton could have even confirmed by commenting before the snap. If Matthews was correct, the play displayed that the Panthers did a good job of self-scouting and ran a counter for McCaffrey out of the look.
